Paul Ragueneau

Paul Ragueneau, SJ (French: [pɔl ʁaɡno]; 18 March 1608 – 3 September 1680) was a Jesuit missionary in New France.

Biography

He was born in Paris and died in the same city. He is sometimes confused with his elder brother François, also a Jesuit. Father François Ragueneau accompanied Father Charles Lalemant who was returning to Canada in 1628. Their vessel was captured by Kirke who was then blockading the St. Lawrence and he was sent as a prisoner to England. It cannot be determined whether Francois ever did visit the Canadian missions.

Paul Ragueneau became a novice in the Society of Jesus in 1626. From 1628 to 1632 he taught at the Collège in Bourges after which he furthered his religious training at the College of La Flèche. From there, he went to Quebec in 1636.

Upon arriving in Quebec, he was almost immediately sent to the Huron mission where he worked under the instruction of Fathers Jean de Brébeuf and Jérôme Lalemant for eight years. In 1645 he became superior of the Huron mission. During his time as superior, a number of his missionaries met their deaths, the first being Father Antoine Daniel (4 July 1648). They became known as the Canadian Martyrs. He remained at his post on St. Mary's on the Wye until 1649, when persuaded by the Huron leaders to join the fugitives on St. Joseph's island (1649).

After a bloody defeat, followed by the massacres of Fathers Noël Chabanel and Charles Garnier, Ragueneau, yielding to the entreaties of the few whom famine, pestilence, and the fury of the Iroquois had spared, led the small band of 400 survivors, the remnants of a nation of ten thousand, to their final refuge, Quebec, after a long and perilous journey. Ragueneau wrote the Relations of the Hurons of 1648–49, 1649–50, 1650–51, and 1651–52 which describes the destruction of the mission.

In 1650, he became vice-rector of the College of Quebec, and superior of the Canadian mission. In 1656, Ragueneau was assigned to the residence at Trois-Rivières. In 1657, he left for Sainte-Marie-de-Ganentaa. He was part of the times that saw the departure of Fathers Chaumonot, Le Moyne, and other missionaries. This first attempt at an organized apostolate among the Iroquois had failed.

In 1662 he returned to France and remained there as procurator of the mission. Ragueneau died in Paris 3 September 1680.

The Parish Municipality of Ragueneau in Quebec, Canada, is named after him. In July 2012, there were proposals to name a Canadian federal riding after him.

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Paul Ragueneau — Jesuit missionary, b. in Paris, 18 March, 1608; d. 8 Sept., 1680. He entered the Society in 1626. In 1636 he went to Quebec and was soon sent to the Hurons with Le Moyne, Depron, Jogues, and Garnier, to labour under Brébeuf during the long and painful period preceding the conversion of that nation. He was one of the heroic band who, in 1637, being exposed to death at every moment, signed and sent to their superior as their last will a joint act of resignation to martyrdom. In 1645 Ragueneau was superior of the Huron mission which counted eighteen workers. He possessed a perfect mastery of the language. The death of the martyr Jogues was the signal for many conversions, and Ragueneau writes with admiration of the fervour of his neophytes. Five of his fellow missionaries won the martyr's crown in different posts under Ragueneau's direction, the first being Father Daniel (4 July, 1648). He remained at his post on St. Mary's on the Wye until persuaded by the Huron captains to join the fugitives on St. Joseph's island (1649). The notable increase in the number of conversions (3000 Indians being baptized in 1649) rewarded his zeal. After a bloody defeat, followed by the massacres of Father Chabanel and Garnier, Ragueneau, yielding to the entreaties of the few whom famine, pestilence, and the fury of the Iroquois had spared, led the small band of 400 survivors, the remnants of a nation of ten thousand, to their final refuge, Quebec, after a long and perilous journey. In 1650 he became vice rector of the College of Quebec and superior of the Canadian mission. It was during this time that he directed in the ways of holiness a highly privileged soul, Sister Catherine of St-Augustine, whose life he wrote. His influence in the supreme council and with Governor de Lauzon was the occasion of his removal to Three Rivers (1656). The year following he was sent as superior to the Iroquois mission. On his way to Onondaga he witnessed the butchery of his Huron companions, for which he reproved the murderers, the Senecas and Onondagas, at the peril of his own life. Informed of the impending massacre of all the French in the Iroquois country, Ragueneau's genius planned and realized their escape and return to Quebec (1658). He returned to France (1662) with Bishop Laval, and remained there as procurator of the missions. Besides a life of Sister Catherine of St-Augustine (Paris, 1671), Ragueneau wrote "Relations" of 1648-9, 1649-50, 1650-1, and 1651-2. No other Jesuit in Canada wrote so much as he. On one of his missions he saw and mentioned Niagara Falls thirty-five years before Hennepin, the alleged discoverer, described the cataract.

ROCHEMONTIEUX, Les Jésuites et la Nouvelle-France (Paris, 1896); CAMPBELL, Pioneer Priests of North America (new York, 1908); PARKMAN, The Jesuits of North America (Toronto, 1899); THWAITES, Jesuit Relations (Cleveland, 1896-1901).

External links

• New Catholic Dictionary
• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Paul Ragueneau". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.